Nordost Odin or Valhalla 2


Folks, 

Do you feel Nordost cables are worth it's asking price?  What's the proportionate amount one should spent on cables? 

After hearing them at RMAF 2015 and few other brands of cables, I decided to look into the upgrade cost.  I own a decent HT setup and invested over $125K in my pursuit of audio nirvana.  

So I contacted a Nordost dealer to get an estimate on my setup.  The dealer came back with an estimate of $110K on Valhalla 2.  Needless to say, I didn't even bothered to ask the cost of Odin in my setup.  

No offense to the dealers, but I started to wonder the profit markups on high end cables.  I do hear stories about some unscrupulous dealers who sell high end products to get spiffs from big manufacturers in shape of exotic vacations, free products and so forth if they sell more widgets.  Isn't this corporate hi-fi that only seeks to show returns for shareholders.  To me its pure business, where is the passion for audio?If they are only focusing on providing expensive audio jewelry and targeting individuals with deep pockets then I say, mission accomplished.  

I have much better experience with smaller companies who are dedicated and committed to providing 'magical' listening experience without taking a second mortgage on your home.  I thought the whole idea of audio art is to create aural magic.  

IMO most cables regardless of price point, will get you 80% of the performance of super expensive cables.   So is it really worth spending thousands of dollars more to achieve that 20% or 10% of performance? 

I would like to hear from folks who owns Odin or Valhalla 2 or other comparable brand of cables, what was decided factor in their choice, what other cables did you compare before settling with Odin or Valhalla 2.  

I don't have any hidden agenda or personal vendetta against high priced cables or dealers engaged in selling high end products.  The idea here is to gauge performance vs. cost of super expensive cables. 

Happy Listening!!!

128x128lalitk

Showing 2 responses by lalitk

trcnetmsncom, 

I am glad to hear that you loved the Odin1 speaker cables.  My experience with them was not as extended as yours but I am willing to concede that they are well made cables.  We all know that cables are system dependent and any well made cables with a decent R&D should yield good to great results. 

I started this thread to know if Nordost Odin or Valhalla's cables are worth the retail price. IMO, the answer is NO, simply because of the dealer mark-up and the marketing hype.  They are indeed good cables, no doubt. However, I believe you can create the same magic as Odin or Valhalla for lot less. 

The purpose of any well made cable is to simply to get out the way and let your components do the dance. If your components are good, you will hear good performance with any decent priced cable.  

Most of us with a decent investment desires to extract every last ounce of goodness from their components. I think that where these highly touted reference cables comes to play.  They ring up the top 10% of the nuances that some mid-priced cables simply incapable of conveying. 

I did find a very 'special' brand of cables that I am currently auditioning in my home.  Once I complete my evaluation, I will be happy to report my findings and how they stack against some very expensive and well known brand of cables. 

Happy Listening!

ebm, you seem to be a huge proponent of Odin cables :-) 

Thank you all for your feedback.